She Knew All Along
by BaloneyNomz
Summary: Hinata notices Kiba's feelings for her, even though everyone else thinks she's blind to them. Onesided KibaHina and onesided NaruHina.


Everybody thought that being in love with Naruto Uzumaki blinded her to a certain brunette shinobi's feelings. She heard the whispers, the snickers, saw the looks of others, whenever Kiba did something ever so subtle for her. Or when he said something nice about her with a look in his eyes that wasn't just adoration for a friend. Everybody thought that she, Hinata, never noticed. But she did, in fact she knew before everyone else that Kiba was in love with her. Being in love with Naruto did the exact opposite of blinding her to her teammate's feelings, it opened her eyes to them! She knew that when Kiba was on the other side of the training grounds and doing nothing but standing that he wasn't just taking a rest, he was watching her. And when she turned around and caught his eyes lingering on her, she knew what that warm glow in them was. It was fondness and devotion. It was compassion and tenderness. It was love and she knew it because she'd watched Naruto from afar with those same emotions.

When Kiba went out of his way to protect her on missions, protection she often did not need, she knew it wasn't because he thought she was fragile. Oh no, not that, never that. Kiba knew how strong she was, he often complimented her abilities with genuine admiration or playful competition. It was also incorrect to say that he did this because she was a teammate and he acted accordingly. Kiba went out of his way to protect her, because he had an instinctive impulse to do so. Because even though he knew she was a formidable kunoichi he felt so strongly for her that he he simply HAD to make SURE she was safe, whenever he could. Hinata knew this, because she felt the same fierce desire to protect Naruto. When Kiba cheered her on during her spars with Shino or Kurenai, her cousin Neji, or any other willing participant, she could hear the pure pride and affection in his encouragement. He was always proud of her increasing improvement, even when she did not win the spar. And it was not the way one is proud of a comrade, it was the way she was proud of her beloved blonde shinobi, Naruto Uzumaki who was not really hers at all. She could tell in his voice.

All the others may think Hinata was ignorant of Kiba's love, but in truth she had known before any of them did. Before Shino even knew, and he had caught on pretty quickly. Ever observant Shino, he was the only one Hinata could think of that knew of her awareness to the Inuzuka. Hinata was grateful for that, and she was also grateful that Shino never mentioned this acknowledgment to the dog-nin. Doing so would probably make things awkward. There was a reason why Hinata pretended to be blind to Kiba, acted blissfully ignorant to his affections and that reason was obvious. She did not love him back, and she never would. Kiba knew this, which was exactly why he never directly voiced his feelings. He showed them of course, and hinted, he couldn't help that. Doing that had come as naturally as loving her and Hinata doubted he even noticed what he did. But he never voiced his feelings and she never acknowledged them to him. Because Kiba knew, and respected that she had eyes for only one, one who he was not. And Hinata remained outwardly oblivious to his love for her, speaking up would embarrass Kiba, likely make him feel bad, and perhaps even give him a spark of false hope. It would strain the strong friendship they had at the very least, and that was the last thing Hinata wanted to happen.

Her true views on his feelings for her, were kind. The Hyuga was flattered by them, warmed on the inside and comforted to know that someone was in love with her; that she held the most passionate feelings from the depths of a man's heart, even if he was the wrong man. She was thankful to him, that he'd done so much extra for her. The little things he did had helped to boost her ever growing confidence up. She was grateful for the knowledge that his helping hand would always be there if she needed it, even if no one else's was. In all honesty, a slim part of her wished she could be in love with Kiba. Wished that she could love the dog-nin who so profoundly loved her. Another part of her felt empathy for Kiba, since she knew how much it hurt him that she didn't love him back. When you truly loved someone, loved with with a strength like no other from the depths of your heart, but they loved someone else; it felt like an ice cold nail pounded through your heart, and sometimes a stale bitter taste would rise in your throat and accompany the frigid ache. Hinata felt that way when she thought about how Naruto did not love her, when she thought about how instead he loved Sakura Haruno. She understood Kiba's love and the pain of that unrequited love more than anyone else ever would, and everybody who thought otherwise, was as blind as they considered her.


End file.
